How To Make Quick-Fix Sloppy Joes

Clean out your fridge and pantry by making Sloppy Joes! You can add about anything you like—jalapeños, barbecue sauce, beans, or even cheddar cheese.

Show Transcript

Hi, I'm Christy Jordan with Quick fix suppers you'll spend less time in the kitchen and more time around the table,so let's get started. [SOUND] My kids love Sloppy Joe's but my husband and I get tired of the same old recipe over and over again. Do you have any ideas for some new Sloppy Joe's? Since the bases of Sloppy Joe's is basically just meat and ketchup there's really nothing that you can't do with them. I can think of it as one of those great recipes that helps you clean all those half empty bottles and jars in your refrigerator. Southern Living Sloppy Joe's is a great place to start. To begin with, all we're gonna need is about a pound and a half to two pounds of lean ground beef. Now, you can [SOUND] start with ground chuck, and a lot of times, you find that on sale. The thing is ground chuck has a much higher fat content, so as it cooks down, you're really going to end up with a lot less meat. So to get more bang for your buck, I like to go with lean ground beef from the store. [SOUND] Now I've got the ground beef all browned and drained and I'm just going to toss in the rest of my ingredients. This is were it gets even easier. We've got a can of diced tomatoes, juice and all, some ketchup. And now we're going to add our barbecue sauce. I like to use a smoky flavor, but if your family prefers sweet, spicy, tangy, just use whatever you have on hand or whatever is your personal taste and then you make a dish that really suits you and your family. Now to add just a kick to our Sloppy Joes, I'm going to add a little bit of diced jalapenos and some of the juice from the jar. For a kid friendly version, just try adding dill pickle relish instead. I'm also gonna put a little bit of Worschteirshrie sauce in it. Then we're gonna stir this up, bring it to a light simmering, and then just kinda keep stirring it continually. I've let it simmer for about 15 minutes, now our Salviga mixture is nice and thick and we're ready to go. One of my favorite things to do when making sloppy joe's is to toast the buns ahead of time. This gives your sloppy joe's a nice crunchy texture when you bite into it and it also keeps your buns from getting soggy. I just use a dry skillet and put my buns in there cut side down, put it on medium to medium high heat and keep an eye on them because they'll burn easily. If you want to cut down on clean up time, go ahead and toast your buns beforehand in the same skillet you're gonna make your sloppy joe mixture in, then you have just one pan to clean. Now here's the best part, we're gonna get to make our sloppy joe sandwiches, and I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna be eating this one all by myself. I love how nice this looks going on the bun. And it's supposed to be sloppy, so don't worry about that. One of the things I like to do, you know I talk about customizing your sandwich to make it your own, I like to add a little bit of cheddar cheese to mine. It adds a nice little extra bit of ooey and gooeyness to it. And there we go. I hope you get to try this recipe soon, and for more great quick-fix dinner ideas, pick up a copy of Southern Living magazine, and visit us online at SouthernLiving.com.

Hi, I'm Christy Jordan with Quick fix suppers you'll spend less time in the kitchen and more time around the table,so let's get started. [SOUND] My kids love Sloppy Joe's but my husband and I get tired of the same old recipe over and over again. Do you have any ideas for some new Sloppy Joe's? Since the bases of Sloppy Joe's is basically just meat and ketchup there's really nothing that you can't do with them. I can think of it as one of those great recipes that helps you clean all those half empty bottles and jars in your refrigerator. Southern Living Sloppy Joe's is a great place to start. To begin with, all we're gonna need is about a pound and a half to two pounds of lean ground beef. Now, you can [SOUND] start with ground chuck, and a lot of times, you find that on sale. The thing is ground chuck has a much higher fat content, so as it cooks down, you're really going to end up with a lot less meat. So to get more bang for your buck, I like to go with lean ground beef from the store. [SOUND] Now I've got the ground beef all browned and drained and I'm just going to toss in the rest of my ingredients. This is were it gets even easier. We've got a can of diced tomatoes, juice and all, some ketchup. And now we're going to add our barbecue sauce. I like to use a smoky flavor, but if your family prefers sweet, spicy, tangy, just use whatever you have on hand or whatever is your personal taste and then you make a dish that really suits you and your family. Now to add just a kick to our Sloppy Joes, I'm going to add a little bit of diced jalapenos and some of the juice from the jar. For a kid friendly version, just try adding dill pickle relish instead. I'm also gonna put a little bit of Worschteirshrie sauce in it. Then we're gonna stir this up, bring it to a light simmering, and then just kinda keep stirring it continually. I've let it simmer for about 15 minutes, now our Salviga mixture is nice and thick and we're ready to go. One of my favorite things to do when making sloppy joe's is to toast the buns ahead of time. This gives your sloppy joe's a nice crunchy texture when you bite into it and it also keeps your buns from getting soggy. I just use a dry skillet and put my buns in there cut side down, put it on medium to medium high heat and keep an eye on them because they'll burn easily. If you want to cut down on clean up time, go ahead and toast your buns beforehand in the same skillet you're gonna make your sloppy joe mixture in, then you have just one pan to clean. Now here's the best part, we're gonna get to make our sloppy joe sandwiches, and I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna be eating this one all by myself. I love how nice this looks going on the bun. And it's supposed to be sloppy, so don't worry about that. One of the things I like to do, you know I talk about customizing your sandwich to make it your own, I like to add a little bit of cheddar cheese to mine. It adds a nice little extra bit of ooey and gooeyness to it. And there we go. I hope you get to try this recipe soon, and for more great quick-fix dinner ideas, pick up a copy of Southern Living magazine, and visit us online at SouthernLiving.com.